Comments on "he did NOT surprise me by asking if I had been to the "Ring Cafe" on Saturn . . ." by David NelsonLunch with Paul in Lagos and Burma<br /> As Jim Periconi (and extraordinary man as well) has noted in this blog, I met Paul and Ann once, however, in fact, Paul and I met in many secret places around the world throughout the years. No global citizen ever knew but us. Indeed, Paul and I could not stop sharing thru the evening in his back yard near the lake all the places in the world we had both traveled. We had not merely visited. Separately, we both knew of an aqua painted cafe around a corner in Marrakech, a monk in Rangoon who refused to age, the exact spot where we found spent cartridges on the Khyber Pass, our both stealing a shred of gold leaf from the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok. Talking with Paul was to relive my travels in 66 countries, however, after hours of bent over laughter and countless "...have you ever been to...." , he did NOT surprise me by asking if I had been to the "Ring Cafe" on Saturn. He was one up on me there. Indeed, Paul and I, w/o exaggeration, had been to the very same tiny places worldwide but at different times over many years. His knowledge of current affairs and politics made it seem that he read every newspaper from every country every day.<br /> As Jim Periconi notes, "Police Blotter", posted in Paul's bathroom forced me to drink as much beer as I could that evening for the sole purpose that I could take more than my allotted time(s) to read and re-read it. With laughter bellowing from the bathroom, I'm sure the line outside thought something else was going on inside until they muscled their way in and found their own experience with Paul's unquestionable, unchallengeable humor. No, make that wit and observation.<br /> Paul, the entire globe knows you are not gone, however, I just learned something curious: the Earth is indeed not perfectly round, rather, it has large bulges, gigantic imperfections and is NOT round. Of course, this is YOUR doing. One of your tricks. But of course.<br /> Thank you for this gift and so many others. Let us meet at Ang San Suu Kyi's house for tea. The Rangoon porch side. David NelsonTypePad2011-04-19T06:13:47ZThe Best American Poetryhttp://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/paul_violi/tag:typepad.com,2003:http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/paul_violi/2011/04/your-best-friend-calls-you-and-tells-you-heshes-really-sick-how-do-you-show-you-care-12/comments/atom.xml/